Instagram Bolt

The Awesome New Instagram App You’re Not Allowed To Have (Yet)

Instagram has rolled out something new — a Snapchat-style app that allows users to send photos and videos, which are deleted after they have been viewed.

The new messaging app for iOS and Android allows you to send messages to one person at a time. It’s designed for speed and privacy and is remarkably simple.

Tap the picture of a friend’s face to send a picture or give a long press to send a video, and you shake to undo an accidental Bolt, a potential hazard of the app’s speedy messaging capability.

However, there’s a catch. For the time being, the Bolt app is only available in New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa with Instagram favoring a soft launch.

Rest assured, Instagram do intend to make the app available to more users soon, once they know it’s fit for purpose, but they want to test it first on three different markets.

“We’re going to other regions soon, but are starting with a handful of countries to make sure we can scale the experience,” an Instagram spokesman is quoted as saying by The Verge.

Some critics have pointed out the similarity between Bolt and the Slingshot app, which was released last month by Facebook, who also own Instagram. The two seem to have many of the same functions and even share an identical text editor that allows you to drop text on a photo or video.

However, even before Bolt is fully released, there has been controversy. A smaller tech start-up also called Bolt, which allows users to take advantage of data plans to make free calls, has requested Instagram change the name of the app.